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Tuesday, April 9, 2013

A to Z April Challenge: H is for Helena

This is Day 8 of the A to Z April Challenge. My theme is women with unusual names although
I must cheat now and then or I’ll have a name and no story.

is for Helena “Ellen” Foland.

Helena Foland is my 3G grandmother. She was born in Virginia in 1818, the
daughter of Jacob Foland and Mary Elizabeth Hinkle; the granddaughter of Johann
Valentine and Anna Christina Schuckmaeninn Foland and George and Susannah
Goetzinger Hinkle; the great-granddaughter of Jacob and Anna Zufelt Foland,
Fernandus and Neeltje Schuckmaeninn, and George and Barbara Rowland
Henckel.

With all that German influence, you’d think I would love
knockwurst and bratwurst, but I don’t. I
do, however, really like sauerkraut.

Anyway, back to Helena. Her ancestors were among those
many Germans and Swiss who escaped religious persecution by immigrating to
Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. From
there many of the German families continued south into Maryland and then into the
Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.

The Folands, Schuckmaeninns, and Henckel/Hinkles were among
those early settlers.

In 1835, Helena married William Eppard, whose family
migration story reads much like that of Helena’s. They settled in the Naked Creek area of
Rockingham County. They farmed and
raised 4 children.

Meanwhile Helena’s parents and most of their children
kept moving westward into Tennessee.
Helena was separated from her family not only by miles but also by
politics. The Civil War. Tennessee was Union. Virginia was Confederacy. While Helena’s own son fought for the South,
her brothers were fighting for the North.

I am sure there were many, many people in the same situation...you had to fight for where you lived. Way back in my husband's family, there were 7 brothers. Each time one came of age to fight the family sent them off to Utah as it was not yet a state. I have a photo of the 7 Mormon boys hanging in my living room.Happy H day!

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net